Look, I too, a Warren supporter. But I have said long ago that I will support anyone who wins the nomination. My initial choice was Kamala Harris. After that, I guess Biden? I’ve had my issues with Bernie for a long time, but if it came to it, yes, I’d gladly support him in a general. But one thing I think needs to be addressed: This meme that ONLY Bernie can push through this progressive agenda. People talk about Biden and how they dislike his ideology and I agree to an extent. But I never get a full picture from Bernie supporters on just how this great progressive agenda would come into action. Last night, right on Daily Kos, I read that a Bernie supporter say, “Bernie is the ONLY way to push through the progressive agenda we want..” Really?
First of all, let’s say Bernie is able to overcome his own liabilities in this race and win the Democratic nomination. Obviously, there is a disconnect with black voters or at least black voters in the South. And we see from Biden’s recent victories in Massachusetts, Maine and Minnesota that even not all of the rural/Mid-western folk immediately jumped onto the Bernie bandwagon. Bernie seems to have won California, but it was not a wipe-out, either. And I’ve seen Bernie supporters on Twitter already suggesting Warren was a Biden puppet, designed to siphon votes away from Bernie, but wouldn’t she have done better even her own home state? Also, I am a strong Warren supporter, as a was a strong Harris supporter, but that does NOT mean I will immediately switch to Bernie. I know many EW supporters who have issues with Bernie.
Ok, but fine, let’s say all of the holes in the dike can be plugged! Bernie works it out, gets the nomination and then can really connect with black voters etc. We will skip over Bernie’s own baggage as Bernie supporters will tell us not to worry about that despite some huge concerns the rest of us have. But they go for Democratic Socialist in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida etc. Independents can be persuaded! Maybe Bernie even picks Kamala Harris as VP, a solid choice IMHO. Then, despite a hostile media who will run “Bernie honeymooned in Russia” etc., actual Russian interference etc., Bernie defeats Trump! All of us Bernie naysayers eat lots of crow!
And then? So, say we are just short of winning the Senate. McTurtle (or if there is a merciful God, Mitch’s replacement if he is kicked out) will this time convene a meeting on the Capitol steps on stopping Bernie’s SOCIALIST agenda. Republicans will block EVERYTHING. And may not even ever entertain the idea of Bernie’s Supreme Court picks!
But, no, we squeak by! We get the Senate! We can really get stuff done now! Except no. We still have the filibuster. Now, we have a populace who can fill us in IMPECCABLY on what happened every episode of Gossip Girl but has no real memory of how Republicans killed everything with useless fillibusters with Dem majorities under Bush and then under Obama. And our leader will be Chuck Schumer, who would even run a lemonade stand in a milquetoast way. He’s not the one to be giving up the filibuster and is even more “let’s keep our powder dry” more than Harry Reid ever was. So most stuff will die on the vine there.
But no, we were wrong! It was the wave election that Susan Sarandon promised! (Because she was so right about President Nader and the revolution he brought! Or President John Edwards, whom she supported, who ALSO voted YES for inspectors in Iraq.) But it’s a blue wave! Every safe Republican senator is kicked out! We have 60 votes! (Not sure this is even mathematically possible now, but ok). We can make it all happen now. Except, now, the votes of people like Manchin, Sinema etc. matter MUCH more. Manchin, in particular, is savvy about signing onto “socialist” projects and often votes against the tide. Oh, and let’s hope no one gets sick like Kenedy and Byrd did — they didn’t vote on MANY critical votes for months because they were out and sick. But no! Manchin will have felt the Bern and will vote in line, all 60 Democrat senators will vote in perfect harmony and we’ll get key legislation through!
Oh, and we still have the problem of the corrupt Supreme Court and the hundreds of ideologue judge sleeper cells who can and will fight to overturn our achievements. But we have a filibuster-proof majority with Manchin et. al. on board to help us fill RBG’s seat promptly, And of course, we can well be dealing with: an economy that goes to shit after Trump, real military problems with Russia because Trump gave them the green light, real pressing climate disasters, maybe even a terrorist attack because of Trump’s utter sham and joke security apparatus — and of course the media would NEVER, EVER blame the Dems for any of this.
Oh, and there will be exactly ½ of a term to get this done as virtually every party loses seats in the midterms. But I guess we maintain the 60-seat fillibuster-proof majority through midterms. Hurray!
The point of this diary is that I’m proposing that NO ONE — not Bernie, not Liz, not Kamala would be able to push through huge progressive items in a first term without overcoming all of the above hurdles, which seems pretty impossible. Until actual laws are signed and upheld, they are ideas on paper. While Biden is not the most progressive choice, I believe he has as much a chance as anyone of getting SOME positive legislation done. He will have Obama’s ear, he is generally still very well-liked. Again, only a fraction of what any of them want will actually see the light of day. But, but, Biden will court Republican views and promote a more conservative view! Well a) barring the magical, fully-functioning 60-Dem filibuster majority above, many hard compromises will STILL have to be made with Republicans b) There were other choices: Warren, Harris, Beto, Castro, Booker even Klobuchar or Buttigieg. But our system is arranged, apparently, in such a way that a woman or a person of color can’t even make it to Super Tuesday while a couple of DINO billionaires can buy their way in. c) At best, we are dealing with the possibility of who can squeeze SOME stuff through. d) Perhaps Biden can be persuaded to take Harris on as a VP, a strong progressive and a black woman for whom the table can be set for a future run. e) Like it or not, many voters are actively picking Biden over Bernie so far and in Iowa, it is said, many went for Buttigieg as an alternative to Biden instead of Bernie. So voters are making this choice for some reason. I, as a Warren supporter, would indeed choose Biden over Bernie because like many I feel that Bernie has temperament issues, his campaign and SOME followers can be toxic etc. I feel Bernie would be a more polarizing force than Biden would be and, again, this is with the task of getting SOME positive progressive legislation through.
So please explain to me, Bernie supporters and those who “just can’t do” Biden — What is the plan for overcoming the huge hurdles outlined above and enacting huge progressive legislation in a first term? Tell me how Bernie will enchant Mitch and Manchin!
This is not to say I don’t agree with many of Bernie’s ideas. But, as I’ve seen over the course of my life, first casting my vote for Bill Clinton, most of politics is about making little things happen and you build on these. You get better court appointments, better justices on the Supreme Court, you forge relationships in 50 states, you deal with the blue dogs, you have more failures than victories and very, very rarely are there huge victories like Obamacare, marriage equality, the Civil Rights Act. There is very little to get EXCITED about in politics. Most of it is boring consensus building, and constituent meetings and responding to inane legal challenges. And that is while still cleaning up the lakes of shit created by Republicans. Even Obama, even during the magical few months of our filibuster-proof majority, got a lot of stuff done via executive order with LOTS of compromise.
Yes, Biden has baggage. But so does Bernie and Liz and all of them. So prove me wrong. What is the big master plan, if Bernie were elected, to overcome these huge hurdles outlined above to achieve real progressive legislation? For me, although Biden is not my first choice, I understand ANYONE will not get but a fraction of his/her agenda done in the current environment. Now, if we can have meaningful election reform, get dark money and Citizens United out of politics, take care of voter suppression and gerrymandering, address our flawed racially-biased corporatist society, get a replacement for RBG, eventually Thomas and even impeach Kavanaugh (I”m SURE Schumer has the balls for that!) THEN we can talk. Until that day, I think Biden is just as equipped as the rest to get some actual, real legislation through. I wanted Harris and Warren but the general population has been choosing differently, even before I get to vote in April.
So tell me the plan, please!